THE PROBLEM OF MUNICIPAL NUISANCES. 593 



only part of Regent Street which has recently been distinguished by a 

 foul smell. The stench (arising from foul sewage according to some, 

 from foulness of the roadway according to others) has been specially 

 obvious to the passer-by about the center of the street, and between 

 Oxford Circus and Margaret Street. In the latter place it was par- 

 ticularly disgusting on Saturday evening. Other streets in the West 

 of London have, and are, suffering from persisting stink " {sic ! punc- 

 tuation and all). " It has been suggested that this offensive state of 

 things has arisen from the long spell of dry weather, and consequent 

 insufficient flushing of the sewers or streets, or both. But are the 

 sanitary authorities of the metropolis so wanting in ingenuity, energy, 

 and means that the effects of absence of rain upon the sewers and 

 streets at this time of the year can not be counteracted ? " 



From the above it appears that New York is not the only city 

 where rain is expected to help in cleaning the streets, or where the 

 public authoi'ities are expected to make up for the meteorological de- 

 fects of an exceptional season. 



In the removal of ashes and garbage, London does not seem to be 

 much in advance of New York, as witness the following extracts : 

 " What can be more unreasonable than the practice of accumulating 

 kitchen stuff and household dirt of every description in heaps under 

 our windows during the heat of summer ? . . . The scavenging of our 

 cities and towns is done by contract, and the men employed in the 

 work are so underpaid that, as a matter of experience, they decline to 

 discharge their duty except when bribed by householders. Complaints 

 reach us of the extent to which the practice of levying black-mail is 

 carried by the London dustman, and doubtless the evil is rife else- 

 where. Servants are powerless to compel the inert and insolent men 

 who parade the streets with carts to empty the dust-bins. . . . Alto- 

 gether, the system of clearance is a fiasco.''^ (London " Lancet," 

 August 17, 1878, p. 233.) 



Substitute garbage-box for dust -bin in the following letter,* and it 

 might do for the complaint-book of the " Herald " : 



Meadowside, I^tnet, September 20, 1880. 



Sir : At an inquest held a few days ago on the body of a child who died at 

 Lisson Street, Marylebone, the coroner, Dr. Hardwicke, commented strongly on 

 the serious injury to health occasioned by the present system of allowing dust- 

 bins to remain in London and its environs for lengthened periods without being 

 cleaned out. Perhaps you would bring your influence to bear in this matter, 

 which certainly appears to me to require looking into. 



An uncleaned dust-bin, with its festering mass of decaying animal and vege- 

 table refuse, particularly in hot weather and in crowded districts, is a grave evil, 

 as any one who has given the slightest attention to the matter of hygiene will 

 allow, and the present system of having them emptied once in a fortnight is 

 simply absurd. Of course, those who are addicted to cleanly habits can have their 



* London " Lancet," October 2, 1880, p. 563. 

 VOL. XVIII. 38 



